The ability to communicate data wirelessly has led to many new and improved applications and devices. Some systems which traditionally were wired are now being improved by replacing the wires with wireless capabilities. For example, traditional 5.1 surround sound systems require 6 speakers to be located in different parts of a room and to be wired to a central receiver. Many users have found that the cabling required to install such a system to be very inconvenient and cumbersome. Thus multi-speaker systems have been provided with wireless capability which allows users to easily install and use the systems.
Some wireless multi-speaker systems employ a hub which is wirelessly connected to the speakers in the system. The hub can store a user's music collection and can wirelessly send the stored music for playback to the speakers in the system. A user can select the music to be output by the speakers via, for example, a user interface on the hub or a device connected to the hub.
Typically such systems employing a hub operate in a proprietary network. Such a proprietary system provides the proprietor with flexibility, control and freedom to implement different functions with their proprietary devices. However, a problem with such proprietary systems is that they may not be compatible with devices from other vendors. This can restrict other vendors from manufacturing devices (such as additional speakers or media sources) for use in the wireless speaker system and thus also restricts consumer choice. Furthermore, the user of such a system is restricted to playing music that is stored at the hub. This restriction means that music stored elsewhere (e.g. in the cloud, at a streaming server, etc.) cannot quickly and easily be played back by the proprietary system. There is therefore a need for a technique of flexibly playing media at a multitude of devices in a synchronised manner.